hello there. welcome to "newsline." it's wednesday, september 8st, 8:00 a.m. in tokyo. i'm catherine kobayashi with your updates. the japan coast guard has arrested the captain of a chinese fishing boat on suspicion of attempting to obstruct an inspection i japanese territorial waters. the 41-year-old chinese captain was arrested early on wednesday morning after his trawler collided with a japanese patrol ship off the senkaku islands off the east china sea tuesday. coast guard officials say the trawler was operating in japanese waters.

they also say the fishing boat ignored a warning to stop and collided with the two patrol ships as it fled. the fishing boat eventually stopped outside japanese waters and coast guard officials boarded the trawler to question its crew. the officialsoncluded that the captain intentionally rammed his boat into e of the patrol ships to obstruct the inspection. chinese fishing boats are frequently seen in japan's exclusive economic zone near the islands, and the coast guard repeatedly calls on them to halt operations. the senkaku islands are also claimed by china and taiwan. now responding to the ship collision, the japanese foreign ministry summoned a senior official of the chinese embassy to the foreign ministry on tuesday and launched a protest. calling the chinese trawlers' act vicious and regrettable the rin min stree requested that china step up its instructions on fishing boats operating near japanese waters.

later in the evening prime minister naoto kan spoke to reporters. meanwhile, china's state run xinhua news agency reported that china's foreign minister summoned the japanese ambassador to china niwa on thursday. he urged the patrol ships to stop their illegal interception of chinese fishing boats. the japanese embassy in beijing says niwa responded by saying that japan cannot accept any blame for e incident. china remains noncommittal to requests from japan for the country to review its decision

to cut rare earth metal exports. a delegation from the japan/china economic association met senior officials of the chinese ministry of industry and information technology in beijing on tuesday. the delegation included hiromasa yonekura, chairman of the keidanren of the japan business feration and toyota motos chairman. they asked him to reviewis decision to cut exports of rare earth metals on a large scale. the delegation also proposed technological exchanges regarding pollution caused by rare earth metal production and also proposed the setting up of a panel of government and private sector experts to discuss ways to tackle such pollution. chinese officials said they would like japan to try to diversify imports of rare earth metals by contacting other countries that produced the metals such as canada and the united states. previously, japan's foreign minister had asked the chinese government not to cut its exports in a recent bilateral

ministerial meeting but china showed reluctance to dso. recent outbreaks of a deadly bacterium in two hospitals in japan apparently started from patients who have never traveled abroad. experts say the superbug may be widespread in japan. takeo university hospital recently revealed nine people who died in the hospital were infectioned by the drug resistant bacteria all ais call know backer acetenobacter. the first patients thought to be infected had not traveled abroad. an expert on infectious diseases say the bacteria may have already been spreading in japan.

tropical storm malou is heading east over the sea of japan, and expected to make landfall in central japan around noon on wednesday japan time. japan's meteorological agency says tropical storm malou is over the sea of japan 80 kilometers west of fukui city and moving east at a speed of 35 kilometers per hour. with a central pressure of 998 hectopascals the storm is packing winds of up to 72 kilometers per hour around its center. weather officials are warning that there will be stormy seas and strong winds in western and central japanese coastal areas facing the sea of japan. they're also cautioning against mudslides, flooding, river swelling, strong winds and high waves. north korea has released the crew members of a south korean fishing boat captured for alleged illegal fishing one month ago.

the boat was handed over at the sea boundary between north and south korea on tuesday and arrived at the port of sokcho later in the day. the three south korean and four chinese fishing workers were brought safely to the port. the captain said they were able to return home thanks to the support of the south korean people. north korea says they were freed on humanitarian grounds. but after the announcement of the release, the north requested rice aid from south korea to help north koreans hit by floods last month. political analysts say that more south koreans may urge their government to give food aid following the release of the fishing crew. south korea maintains that it will not supply rice, saying they cannot be sure the aid will actually reach the affected people. inaustraa, primeinisr julia guillard is now certain to stay in power. two independent lawmakers announced her to stay in the party enabling her to follow the

inconclusive general election last month. vote count something still being conducted 17 days after the election on august 21st. public broadcaster abc television says of the 150 lower house seats the ruling bloc has won 74 and the opposition party 73 with independents picking up 3. both labor and the opposition liberal national coalition have been holding policy talks with the three independent lawmakers to build a majority. on tuesday, two of the independents announced that they will support prime minister guillard. this brought the number of seats held by the ruling bloc to majority of 76. >> labor is prepared to deliver stable, effective and secure government for the next three years. so let's draw back the curtains and let the sunshine in. let our parliament be more open than it ever was before. >> gillard became the country's

first female prime minister in june succeeding kevin rudd. to take advantage of her popularity, labor decided to hold an election but faced an unexpected uphill battle partly due to discord in the party. the bank of japan is closely watching what impact last week's easing of monetary policy will have and has said it will take appropriate measures when necessary. after a two-y policy meeting that ended on tuesday the boj said the economy is still recovering at a moderate pace and decided to keep the key interest rate unchanged at around 0.1%. the yen's recent uptrend, the central bank said export-related firms may take a hit if the currency continues to stay at the current high level and that could, in turn, delay the country's economic recovery.

the yen's surge, falling stock prices and u.s. bleak economic outlook caused it to ease concerns about japan's committee. the representatives of 50 cities from around the world are in south korea to talk about how they can better use information technology, they're launching a council to promote i.t.-based administrative services. the city of seoul called tuesday's meeting. the south korean capital has computerized most of its services including the issuance of resident certificates. >> i expect the power of i.t. to create a wave of mutual collaboration that will reach out to every city around the world.

>> the mayor also expressed hope the council would provide business opportunities for south korean firms. the meeting featured an exhibit of cutting edge service technology developed by south korea's samsung and lgl electronics, among others. it included a global positioning system monitor that shows the wait times at bus stops. also on display was a system that sends hospital prescriptions to a pharmacy online so that patients can pick up medication without a long wait. japan's panasonic has developed a portable camera-mounted navigation system that takes pictures and provides information about most tourist spots and other places. the product jointly developed with a travel guidebook publisher carries data on about 80,000 sites around the country. it can be detached easily and shows on the screen the historical backgrounds and other information of various places

such as what to look out for. during the daytime, the camera can give the directions and distances to major buildings such as a hotel based on the images it recognizes. the new product carries a price tag of about $700, a bit more expensive than regular navigation system. japan's record-breaking heat wave shows no sign of easing off. the meteorological agency says this summer has been the hottest since it began keeping records 113 years ago. people around the country have been putting up with the sweltering conditions since mid-july. the extended heat has affected people's lives, in both cities and the countryside. in tochigi prefecture north of tokyo, farmers say the high temperatures and lack of rain has resulted in a 20% drop in their eggplant harvest. >> translator: in this 35-degree

heat, the eggplants are exhausted, just like us. >> at tokyo's wholesale markets some vegetables are in short supply such as spinach and lettuce and this has pushed up prices by 20% to 30%. >> translator: the vegetables are smaller than usual but they still cost just as much. >> translator: it's all expensive and there are very few green vegetables. >> the conditions are also taking their toll on livestock. the agriculture ministry says that from july 1st to mid-august, nearly 1,200 head of cattle died around the country as a result of the heat. it says 420,000 chickens also died in the same period. >> translator: a month ago one of our cows gave birth. after that, it lost its appetite

and died. >> on tuesday, temperatures again rose in many parts of japan with highs of 38 degrees celsius recorded in takasaki gunma prefecture and kumagaya in saitama prefecture, both in eastern japan. the meteorological agency says six locations experienced their hottest septembers yet mostly in eastern and central japan. in tokyo the temperature hit 35 degrees tuesday for the 13th time this summer equalling the record set in 1995. between mid-july and last sunday, a total of 503 people around the country died of heat-related problems. most of them were over 70, but 33 were younger people who died while they were working. the labor ministry says there have been four times as many workplace deaths from heat stroke this summer compared to last year. the government plans to provide subsidies to local governments

to help people install air conditioners in their homes. the meteorological agency says the unusually hot summer has been caused by a combination of factors, including an el nino phenomenon and persistent strong high pressure systems. >> translator: weather experts rarely use the words, but this year's summer has been abnormal. >> the agency also says that global warming may also be behind the rise in temperatures. it forecasts that the hot weather may continue for at least another week. and now l'sake a look the marketigur.

an australian artist has created a new work on japan's remote teshuma island. it's decreasing population and the rising age of the inhabitants worries the islanders about their future there. su pedle an artist showed up to bring color and transforms memories of the places she visits into modern art. nhk world's yuko aotani has more. >> reporter: few than 1,000 people live on teshima island. in a quiet, unremarkable village, this site startles the eye.

an entire house covered in orange nets. it's the same kind of netting the islanders use in the sea. inside the house sit dishes and bowls wrapped in colorful kimono cloth. sue peddly created the work. her challenge was to create art that could originate on all this but forgotten island. miss peddly, a house covered by orange net, a rather significant piece of work of art. what does this signify? >> it's normally used for growing nori seaweed and used in the gardens here and so it's a way of transforming this path, this place, and this everyy activity of nettingnd fishi annet-making. >> reporter: the island is quickly becoming desolate. in the last 50 years, the population shrank by two-thirds.

a fishing family of three generations lived in the house until 20 years ago. the family abruptly left the island, leaving all their furniture behind, including these dishes and cloths. >> these objects and fabrics are found in the house that were left behind 20 years ago, and there were so many of them, of the plates and i wanted to transform these everyday materials and objects by using the wrapping again. i guess i'm very interested in the history of this house and capturing the history and responding to the history of this house, so it's a way of inviting people to enter this house and drawing the attention of this abandoned house to the audience and to the community, and for me, these signify that migration and that displacement and the depopulation that's happened in these regional areas.

>> reporter: pedley moved to the island in april to work on her creation. [ speaking japanese ] >> she was waiting for you. >> good to see you. >> reporter: she learned how to make netting from the local fishermen. side by side, petley and the islanders wove the nets. the experience knotting them together as collaborators in art. must have took lots of people lots of efforts to create this. >> there was a lot of sharing of everyday life. i would often talk to them and ask them about their lives here in the past. i feel very actually privileged to have been able to work so closely with the community and have their trust and respect to actually take on this big project, which it was very extraordinary in their eyes i think to be asked to do such a

thing, and but they cooperated and together we were able to make this happen. >> reporter: to enmesh the house the artist received help from several young volunteers who don't come from teshima. the island has few young people, so this installation could not have been completed without these volunteers. >> i think there were a lot of really good connections between the people making the net and also the volunteers that were here and myself and a real trust has grown between us, and a lot of, i think, pride in this, in their lives. >> reporter: built this island. >> and the village and seeing it with fresh eyes, we'll be able to hopefully see something of their past through this work and people coming here and looking and admiring the beauty of this island, and the beauty of the people that live here, their

kindness and the skills and keep the history of their home very much alive. hopefully that will bring them a sense of pride and in their own lives and selves and this island life. >> reporter: and creating this house, has it changed new any way? >> i think so. i feel transformed by it, just having more understanding of another culture, and privileged that i've been able to have this experience, and be part of the richness and the kindness of this place. >> i'd like to take a look at th. sue pedley's work will be on dilay in teshima island. now let's take a look at the weather. sumi zushi >> hi there, welcome to your world weather update. we're keeping an eye out on

tropical storm malou. it is riding along the west coast of japan, really impacting a wide area here with strong winds and torrential rains just in the last 24 hours we had reports of 240 mill mets falling in shimane so really staggering amounts and that system is going to be making landfall today around noon in central japan near kanazawa and moving to the east side of the country by thursday morning local time so this area will remain quite stormy into your thursday morning. the rain will make its way quickly across the country today, torrential rains embedded in that up to 150 mill meters is expected, so do watch out for the possibility of flooding here. now taking a look at the bigger picture, we also are keeping an eye on tropical depression to the south of taiwan, still hovering over the area, not moving a great deal and it's not likely to intensify just yet, but it will be heading slightly towards the southeast coast of china so it will be bringing wet

weather with it. inland china looking at isolated heavy showers as well and elsewhere scattered showers to the north and also to the south of the country. 30 degrees in chongqing today. 28 in beijing with cloudy skies. tokyo is going to be cooling down considerably, 30 degrees for daytime due to the rain coming in from the tropical storm. let's head to the americas then. keeping an eye on another tropical storm system, hermine is still with us making its way across texas. it will become a tropical depression soon by tonight, tuesday night, that is, local time. still seeing quite stormy conditions in some areas of texas, also isolated tornadoes cannot be ruled out either, but a main concern or the greatest threat, i should say, is going to be the torrential rains and flooding rains associated with the storm. we do have flood warnings in place over a wide area across texas but also up in oklahoma and kansas as well so the next few days we'll be looking at more drenching downpours.

to the northeast, quite a powerful system making its way into the great lakes as well here, looking at the risk of tornadoes in ohio, and over a wide area looking at very strong winds, perhaps damaging winds as well as large hail in place as well. behind it we're going to see cold air entering from the north, already affecting central canada, we have frost warnings in place tonight, and that's going to be ushering into the great lakes region on your wednesday, so as you wake up after tomorrow night it will fe conderay cooler here, torn row 21 degrees on wednesday. 22 in chicago. finally taking a look at europe then, to the north it will stay fine and dry across scandinavia under this big high pressure system, but we've got several systems in the works across western and central europe today, a couple of showers moving across the british aisles, still some heavy rain to come in london but the bulk of the heavy rain is really going to be impacting southern france and italy today, we've had reports of almost 250 mi

millimeters falling in sicily in the last 24ours and various warnings in effect for southern france as well so flooding could be a problem here. 20 degrees in paris today. 21 in london with heavy rain and showers in vienna, 18 degrees for your day heim hitime high. here is your extended forecast now.

taking a look at our top story this is hour. the japan coast guard has arrested the captain of a chinese fishing boat on suspicion of attempting to obstruct an inspection in japanese territorial waters.

the 41-year-old chinese captain was arrested early on wednesday morning after his trawler collided with a japanese patrol ship off the senkaku islands in the east china sea tuesday. coast guard officials say the trawler was operating in japanese waters. they also say the fishing boat ignored a warning to stop and collided with the two patrol ships as it fled. the fishing boat eventually stopped outside japanese waters and coast guard officials boarded the trawler to question its crew. the officials concluded that the captain intentionally rammed his boat into one of the patrol ships to obstruct the inspection. chinese fishing boats are frequently seen in japan's exclusive economic zone near the islands, and the coast guard repeatedly calls on them to halt operations. the senkaku islands are also claimed by china and taiwan. >>recent outbaksf a deadly bacterium in two hospitals in japan apparently started from patients who have never traveled abroad. experts say the superbug may be

widespread in japan. takeo university hospital in tokyo recently revealed that nine patients who died in the hospital were infected by the drug resistant bacteria called acenetobacter. the bug infected 24 people at fujita health university hoital inichi prefecture central japan, since february. it had been suspected that the superbug came from foreign countries. however, the two hospitals say the first patients thought to be infected had not traveled abroad. an expert says the bacteria may have already been spreading in japan. and that wraps up this edition of "newsline." i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo. thanks very much for joining us.